Anderson's A+ effort keeps Cats in Pac-12 hunt
Arizona has produced so many Pac-12 Players of the Week (39) that the school no longer lists them in the yearly media guide.
It almost got to be so โฆ so โฆ so what?
Chris Millsย was seven times the leagueโs basketball Player of the Week.ย Sean Elliott? Six times.ย Salim Stoudamire, five.ย Jason Terry, four. It became so routine thatย Ivan Radenovicย was twice POW. Why, the coaching staff of the Golden State Warriors has five Pac-12 Player of the Week ribbons:ย Steve Kerr, three, andย Luke Walton, two.
But when Arizona seniorย Ryan Andersonย put the final touches to the UAโs weekend sweep of the Washington schools on Saturday, the award regained its esteem. The Wildcats couldnโt have beaten the Huskies on Saturday without Andersonโs 22 points and especially his free-throw shooting, 10 for 11.
Anderson will surely be selected as the leagueโs Player of the Week. At WSU and in Seattle he scored 53 points, pulled down 27 rebounds and shot 57 percent. Without Anderson, the Wildcats would essentially have been eliminated from the Pac-12 race Saturday.
Since being swept at UCLA and USC early last month, Anderson has been as productive as almost any UA basketball player in history. Over those eight games, he has averaged 18.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, shot an astonishing 69 percent (55 for 79) and forced opposing defenses to deal with him so thoroughly that he has attempted 60 foul shots.
Thatโs the way to stay alive in the stampede to the Pac-12 championship.
The appeal of Pac-12 basketball is that so many meaningful games, involving so many teams, fill the coming schedule.
USC plays in Tucson next Sunday and then goes to Cal.
Oregon still has road games at USC, UCLA and Cal.
Utah has yet to make its Los Angeles trip and awaits a Feb. 27 showdown at the Huntsman Center against Arizona.
Somehow, Arizona was resourceful enough to win at Washington while committing 20 turnovers, shooting 39 percent and allowing the Huskies eight rim-shaking dunks.
In the end, Ryan Anderson was the best player on the court, the leagueโs top player of the week, and thatโs how you win a road game to sustain a chance to catch Oregon over the next month.
